Little Explosion

Scene:

 4:17 pm Saturday March 31^st

Main level of three level single family home. Open living room, kitchen slash dining room area.    The bathroom is visible from all three rooms.

The trash can in the bathroom is knocked over. The sunlight gleams through the patio doors, illuminating three wads of used paper towels that are scattered on the floor. The trash can is on its side facing the front room and dining room area, revealing its contents.

The only two who are around is doom doom doom

the dog and the cat.

Tensions are high.

The two engage in a stare off. As they lie and wait for the decision of the jury.

Whodunit?

Both would have motive. Dog’s food supply is depleted except for a few lonely pieces of kibble, with a hint of bit mixed in, laying around his bowl.

And Cat, well she’s a cat.

Middle aged barren cat with abandonment issues, more specifically. She came from the wrong side of the tracks.  Her mom was a  house cat who had a thing for alley cats. After escaping the confines of her comfortable home, Cat’s mom returned home with a litter in her belly.  Her owners were outraged and gave all of the kittens up for adoption, all but one. Cat, cat stayed behind but Cats mom was resentful of Cat because Cat’s existence meant the end momma cat’s wayward ways.  So she abandoned cat leaving her to fend for herself on the mean streets of Harvey, IL.

Even as I prepare this brief she glares at me with silent intimidation in her eyes.

It is a completely logical to conclude that this could be a set up. Given Cat and Dog’s rocky history,  this could be the first step of many in her systematic removal of dogs! 

Oh, no, she’s peering at me again, a good sign that I am on to her plan. 

It makes perfect sense, if not for feline world domination, then she would at least have dog out of the house so that she can have unrestricted use of the throw rug they often hiss and bark over, for napping rights. I assume. So Whodunit? Was Baby so starved for sustenance that the soiled paper towels in the trash can  began to look like fluffy mounds of marshmallows? Or is this the first phase of Cat’s OED  plan (Operation Eliminate Dog)???…

After weeks of deliberation and by weeks I mean minutes,  Dog was found guilty.  The prosecution used precedence as the grounds for her decision.  Previous trash can tippings in which Dog was found in close proximity.  There are talks of an appeal.

The television networks are delivering inaccurate, one dimensional images of women. What is being systematically pumped into the minds of younger generation of women by the media is that it is ok to disrespect one another, it is entertaining to be rude and belligerent, and that the life of a housewife is glorious and should be preferred because this is the life that will allow you the most comfort.  It is as if the television is highly trained hypnotist whose message, while swinging its extensive programming as the focus, is saying, “You are getting laaazy, veery veery laaazy.  You are losing all drive and ambition. You will diminish aaall longings for independence; your new focus is to fiiind a man with lots and lots of money.”    The media is setting the stage for the fruition of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale.  In this precautionary tale, women were stripped of all their rights and subjected subservient to men.  One way in which the fictional society was able to get women to surrender their rights was by brainwashing the women into believing that this new way of life was superior.  The “aunts” in The Handmaids Tale were assigned to implement the idea that independence was a bad thing, emphasizing that their former life only offered them freedoms “to” and not freedom “from.” The Gilead assured the women that they were more protected in a codependent arrangement free from the stresses that come with choice, as such should be grateful. 

Another problem with images of women is that the exception has seemingly become the rule.  When formerly being pregnant in high school was scoffed at and scandalized, the magnification of that teenage mistake is being televised in show such as MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom.  I get it, if it is aimed to raise awareness, however let’s raise awareness about both sides of the spectrum. Why isn’t the spotlight shining on the college bound young ladies or the goal oriented women?  How about a show with women who aren’t constantly disrespecting themselves and each other.  I am dying to see a series in which the women are capable of opting for collaboration over unproductive competition.

We, as women need to, (Children cover your eyes)

 Wake the fuck up and realize what is being done! Acknowledge and intercept the messages and distorted images of women being impressed into the minds of our girls.  The networks aren’t the only ones responsible. TV is a business and whatever makes money is the show that the network is going to air.  We have a responsibility to demand programing with dynamic multi=dimensional female characters who aren’t merely societal stereotypes. We can satisfy this responsibility by and NOT contributing to the shows’ ratings!  

“But these women are so ridiculous, I can’t help but to watch,” is not an excuse. Watching it because it’s funny is not an excuse.  You have the sickest of humor if you think that watching women destroy everything our foremothers fought for, is entertaining.  We need to take back control of our image, instead of rendering ourselves reflections of what the dominant culture wants us to believe we are.   

Enough is enough! (In my best Samuel L. Jackson Snakes on a Plane voice).  In the words of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, “Urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present.  I am in earnest.  I will not equivocate. I will not excuse.  I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard.”   My mission is clear.  I need a director’s chair, clapboard, and a production studio. Who do I talk to about this???!!

daveholmes:

We should all turn off our televisions and close our laptops and go outside and move our limbs and play with each other and laugh and smooch and wrestle, because we are all going to be dead in what will seem like 45 minutes and we are going to stay that way until the end of an infinite number of forevers. 

Have a great weekend!

The public transportation system in small towns is a joke.  Let me take that back, I detest generalizations. 

(Clears throat)

The public transportation system in the small town where I currently reside is a joke! This is the third or fourth time that my bus has failed to show up!    I was just in the wonderful, energetic, lively city of Chicago yesterday for an interview at a prestigious Chicago Boutique which is sky rocketing the Chicago Fashion Scene, I mean if you don’t know about this place visit a store, visit the website, prepare for  intense shoegasms. I digress.

I arrived at said interview via public transportation and the Chicago Transit Systems and railways run like well-oiled machines! More important is their availability.  The schedule for the bus I have to take to class only runs three times in the morning and three times in the evening.  There is a bus for the university which runs every half an hour but it doesn’t run on weekends!  How are you supposed to get around…? It’s a conspiracy I tell you! This is a plot to make it difficult to get in to the town, you’re it’s difficult once you’re in, and it’s nearly impossible to leave, it’s like a gang. I am being initiated in the barbwire famed, cornfield riddled De….. If you know the place, you know what I am referencing.  Criminal activity is occurring here! Who do I talk to about this????